The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-03-11
The Farm,
Apples.-Var1eti to Suit the
Market.

The one great point lacking in our
apple crop has been and is in the ga
raeties we grow Corn would not be
paying crop did we plant in our fields
fifty varieties and one third of it pop
corn or early sugar corn for which there
was no market at hand. Yet this is ex.
actly the way our fruit interests have
been attended to, or allowed to attend to
themselves. The tree agent has been
good thing for the many, who would
never have had any fruit for their chill
dren but for the opportunities of strang-
ers. Yet the result has been to FIJI our
land with such multitude of sorts, for
many reasons unsuitable, that the fact
that apples can be grown in large guam
titles to a profit, here as elsewhere,
seems to have been discovered by but
few. Here is where we want a local
Pathological Society to do for the apple
what they have for the peach of our
peninsula. Let us secure list as we'll
suited to Maryland as those we now
have may suit New York.
With the introduction of canning and
drying industries we may also grow a
special list of fruit for these uses. The
catalogues or rather volumes Of the
proceedings of ohe American Pomolog.
ical Society now give a list of all the
desirable varieties of fruit known in
America, or that have been dlssemenat
ed to any extent away from the point
where they originated. This list gives
size, form, color, quality, use whether
for family eating, cooking or market),
season and origin, with its estimated
value for each state of the Union or
province of Canada in which it has
been grown. From this list it is posi-
Bile for us to select a sufficient number
for all our purposes, even winter fruit,
for it must b., understood that we have
to deduct from two to three months
from the time Of ripening, as set down
in the books. for all apples Of northern
origin We have been so extensively
supplied by New York nurseries, that
those Of southern orr gin, or whose place
of nativity is near home, have been ne
elected and we hardly know their
merits. Some old men argue that we
cannot groa0 as good keeping apples as
we did fifty Years ago.
The Editor can speak for the guam.
tity and quality Of the apples grown in
Carolina, an'i we know of few sorts
of excellent quality of local origin here,
some Of which have not had the dis
tribution their merits may deserve.
Smiths Ci' er, York Imperial and
Cornell's Fancy are three apples of
Penn. origin excellent here, but the
Smith Cider especially, of no value in
the North and West
| have many apples growing that /
have brought from the South and hope
in few years to know their merits bet
ter and know Of some orchards of
them, whose productions watch with
interest, but they are yet too young to
speak Of with positive assurance.
We have many apples of foreign
origin; and the Department of Agricul-
ture has recently disseminated many
Russian varieties for trial. A few of
these produce most excellent fruit but
all, so far as [ can learn, are early in
their time of ripening, and on this ac-
count not desirable to plant in quantity,
unless it be with the intention Of evap-
Grating the fruit. For this purpose
they are exec lent when they combine
as many good qualities as Gravenstien.
This and some others are so uniformly
smooth, bright colored and nice to eat
out Of hand, that they should bring a
good price n our city markets, and
limited quaE it, will when they can be
placed beft those who appreciate
them, and Il custom OF placing dishes
of ripe fruit OH tables as an orn ament
and an after dinner course is one that
will grow il indefinite proportion, the
only lack now being in the variety to
fill the dish at all seasons.
1t has been our experience here, in
the business of selling apples, for twen-
tyfive years or more, that these varieties
reach the markets at the same season as
peaches, melons, &c., and also at
time when many of the best customers
for them are ''out of town. are hard to
sell to profit for these reasons. The
apples will have to follow the custom
ers to the seashore or mountains as